STATEMENT BY PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF TURKEY, AMBASSADOR TACAN ILDEM 884TH MEETING OF THE PERMANENT COUNCIL 20 OCTOBER 2011

Mr. Chairman,

At the outset, I would like to voice our gratitude to those, namely the Chairman in Office, the EU, the countries who have aligned themselves with this EU statement, the United States, Belarus, Azerbaijan, Canada and Ukraine for expressing their sympathy and solidarity with and support to us in condemning the recent heinous terrorist attacks in my country.

Terrorism is a threat to our democracies. This has been starkly reminded to us by the deadly series of terrorist attacks carried out in the provinces of Bitlis and Hakkari on 18th and 19th October and that have cost 33 lives, who were mostly members of the security forces but also several civilians including two children at the age of 2 and 10. In addition to these casualties, 18 people suffered injuries.

On previous occasions, I had the opportunity to inform the Permanent Council on our comprehensive, multi-dimensional approach to the matter. But, let me briefly say at this juncture that the PKK, which is in the list of terrorist organizations of many countries and international organizations, continues to pose a serious threat to Turkey and its people. It also threatens each and every country where it has openly or clandestinely established itself.

Our fight against the terrorist organization will continue unabated. The latest round of attacks is an attempt to shake our unity and determination. The attacks are at the same time clearly against our democratic values and norms. Nevertheless, this will not diminish our resolve to fight this scourge and uphold democracy and human rights.

As my distinguished US colleague has stated, we, the participating States of the OSCE, all have commitments in fight against terrorism. Our Heads of State and Government have reconfirmed them at our Summit in Astana through the Commemorative Declaration. In this regard, we appreciate both the display of solidarity and the concrete measures taken by by our partners in cooperating with Turkey. This is one aspect of the fight against this scourge which complements the determined measures taken by Turkey. In this respect, we appreciate that the statements that we have heard reaffirm both the commitments and the continuation of cooperation with my country in this field.